A conversation between LP Executive Director Kemi Ilesanmi and 2021 Radical Imagination Fellow Piper Anderson on abolition, mental health, rethinking carceral approaches to harm, and more. Piper discusses her personal journey to abolition work, and projects Mass Story Lab and Rikers Public Memory Project, which use storytelling as a tool to address and name the injustice of the prison system.

In this voicemail style, call-in episode, Laundromat Project Artist Engagement Manager Ladi’Sasha Jones and Programs Director Hatuey Ramos-Fermín listen to stories and reflections from Create Change Fellows on what connection and affirmation has looked like for them during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Featuring the voices of Angela Miskis, Anjelic E. Owens, Ayling Zulema Dominguez, Ella Mahoney, Kimberly Tate, and Manuel Molina Martagon. 

What does community building and affirmation look like in the ballroom scene? Tune in to a special Pride Month edition of The LP Documents podcast featuring Create Change artists and ballroom performers Sydney Baloue (2020) and Samer RIDIKKULUZ (2021), who spoke about chosen family, queer visibility, and personal confidence.

Note: All views and opinions expressed by the artists are the views of the artists alone. This episode includes some adult language.

In the midst of an era fueled by generalizations and incendiary rhetoric, how do we share immigrant stories in a way that is reflective and representative of their complexity and humanity? We the News aims to amplify these unique stories via physical newsstands located in small businesses around Bed-Stuy. Each newsstand will be filled with bilingual zines created by immigrants affiliated with local partnering organizations. Historically, zines have been a medium of communication within subcultures and a tool in activist movements and organizing. Via zines that focus on stories of traditions and rituals, Lizania hopes to co-create spaces of sanctuary through the use of language, personifying the role words and messages play in uniting, empowering, and building community.

Throughout the course of her LP residency, Leslie facilitated a series of collaborative art-making workshops with families in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. During the gatherings, community members created illustrated books of drawings inspired by memories and experiences in their neighborhood.

The workshops culminated in a large-scale interactive installation featuring the illustrated book drawings and larger than life, diorama-like versions of the drawings, as interpreted by the artist. A World Inside Drawing celebrates community members and familial neighborhood spaces, and it acts as a sanctuary, where neighbors can literally see themselves inside their own creations.

Yes, Femme! A Community Space for Femmes of Color is an extension of Sal’s ongoing multifaceted series, The FEMME Project, which features photographs and interviews with femmes of color. The body of work confronts the erasure of trans and cis femmes of color while giving them space to articulate their identity in their own words. Yes, Femme! A Community Space for Femmes of Color will be a convening of femmes of color throughout New York City and build on the past work of The FEMME Project to celebrate femininity via interactive activities and a curated meal. Complementing the convening will be the launch of an exhibition of The FEMME Project, which will be open to the greater public.

Rose Petal Refuge: Mental Wellness Workshops for Queer & Trans* People of Color will include three Soulscape installations in Harlem community parks and greenspaces. The Soulscapes will act as spaces of sanctuary for queer and trans* people of color, upholding spirit, self-love and emotional wellness. A series of healing and mental wellness workshops will take place inside each installation, and incorporate sensory experiences using herbs, aromatherapy, taste, and guided meditation. In addition, each Soulscape will feature pairings of bleach paintings–serving as subtle delineations of space for collective engagement and action–along with custom-made music to set the intimacy of each workshop.